Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry

266."That it not only very generally prevailed, but that its symbolic signification was well understood in the days of Moses, we learn from that passage of Exodus where the angel of the Lord, at the burning bush, exclaims to the patriarch, 'Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' Clark thinks it is from this command that the Eastern nations have derived the custom of performing all their acts of religious worship with bare feet. But it is much more probable that the ceremony was in use long anterior to the circumstances of the burning bush, and that the Jewish lawgiver at once recognized it as a well-known sign of reverence.

267."Bishop Patrick entertains this opinion, and thinks that the custom was derived from the ancient patriarchs, and was transmitted by a general tradition to succeeding times.

268."The direction of Pythagoras to his disciples was in these words: 'Offer sacrifices and worship with thy shoes off.'

269."The Mohammedans, when about to perform ^[142] their devotions, always leave their slippers at the door of the mosque. The Druids practiced the same custom whenever they.celebrated their sacred rites; and the ancient Peruvians are said always to have left their shoes at the porch when they entered the magnificent temple consecrated to the worship of the sun.

270."Adam Clark thinks that the custom of worshipping the Deity barefooted was so general among all nations of antiquity, that he assigns it as one of his thirteen proofs that the whole human race have been derived from one family.

271."The rite of discalceation is, therefore, a symbol of reverence. It signifies, in the language of symbolism, that the spot which is about to be approached in this humble and reverential manner is consecrated to some holy purpose.

272."Into the Master Mason's lodge— this holy of holies of the Masonic temple, where the solemn truths of death and immortality are inculcated — the aspirant, on entering, should purify his heart from every contamination, and remember, with a due sense of their symbolic application, those words that once broke upon the astonished ears of the old patriarch,

Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. " '*

273."In the ancient initiation the candidate was never permitted to enter on the threshold of the ^[143] temple, or sacred cavern in which the ceremonies were to be conducted, until, by the most solemn warning, he had been impressed with the necessity of caution, secrecy and fortitude."*

274."The probation of a candidate in ancient times embraced many important particulars; but principally his fortitude and constancy were severely tried by the application of — sometimes an iron instrument heated red hot; at others the point of a sword or other sharp weapon, while he himself was deprived of all means of defense and protection.

275."Freemasonry is a system based upon the knowledge and acknowledgement of God, who is the creator of the world and the author and giver of every good and perfect gift; the vehicle which has brought down from the antediluvian world the primitive religion of man. It must not, however, be mistaken for a religious sect, although it embraces that universal system in which all men agree, while the infidel and atheist are excluded because they prefer the dangerous alternative of disbelieving the Divine existence."* *